The investigation into the death of Kevin A. Ward, Jr. is complete, according to New York’s Ontario County Sheriff Philip C. Povero.
Ward died from injuries sustained after being hit by a sprint car on Aug. 9 at Canandaigua Motorsports Park in upstate New York.
NASCAR driver Tony Stewart and Ward had contact on lap 14 in a race in which they were competing which brought out a caution. During the caution situation, Ward removed himself from his car and walked onto the racing surface. As he neared Stewart’s racecar, the rear of Stewart’s car struck Ward. Ward sustained massive blunt trauma and died of those injuries.
All of the paperwork and evidence, including a forensic video enhancement recently received from the New York State Police Lab has been submitted to the Office of the Ontario County District Attorney for review. A statement will be released late next week with what action will be taken.
Stewart has only spoken publicly in one setting which was prior to NASCAR Sprint Cup activity at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He returned to racing during that Labor Day weekend race after a three-week personal absence from the sport. Stewart stated that this was the worst tragedy that he has ever had to deal with and the accident will stay with him for the rest of his life.
